From bestselling historical romance author Sarah MacLean comes her contemporary fiction debut. A dazzling, gripping foray into the grief of the Storm family after losing their patriarch, THESE SUMMER STORMS combines a “Succession”-like clan with a forbidden romance and a Clue-like hunt for treasure that will change everything for the surviving Storms.

“Trailblazing Genius Franklin Storm, Dead at 70” blares the headlines. A Steve Jobs/Bill Gates figure of entrepreneurial genius, Franklin Storm stepped into his parents’ garage at the age of 17 with nothing but a dream and the $1,107 in his pocket. But he changed the world forever, inventing computers large and small, bringing them into the homes of even “regular” people, and eventually into their pockets and onto their wrists. And that’s just the first paragraph of his biography. His philanthropy, art collection, daredevil tendencies (he dies, in the most billionaire way possible, in a gliding accident), and even his wealthy and privileged wife and four children are all the stuff of legend. Including, perhaps most shockingly, Alice, who nearly cost him --- and them --- all of it, right down to the name.

But as much as he could be brilliant and generous, Franklin was also mercurial, prone to control and swift in his vengeance. So it is that Alice has not seen or spoken to her father --- and barely her mother or siblings --- in five years, not since he told her to get off the family island and stay off for good. But if that stung, it was nothing compared to the horror she felt when no one came to her defense, begged her to stay or pretended to miss her.

"[THESE SUMMER STORMS is] a testament to what good fiction does: it makes you feel every snipe, betrayal, alliance and affection as if you were right there with the characters, breathing in the sumptuous coastal air."

It should come as no surprise, then, that none of the Storms expect Alice to arrive on the family island off the coast of Rhode Island to mourn their father, which is also exactly why she must. Her trip is detoured by paparazzi and a one-night stand with a handsome, strong man, but the rest is all as expected. Her WASP mother, Elisabeth, is as composed as ever, refusing to acknowledge any grief, focused only on the “celebration” planned in a few days’ time. Her lazy but conniving brother, Sam, is plotting his takeover as the next CEO of Storm, Inc. Her older sister, Greta, the textbook first daughter and forever-companion to their mother, is prim but biting. And her baby sister, Emily, is as caring and sweet as ever, seemingly untouched by the toxicity of the Storms.

Then there’s Jack Dean. Per Sam, Jack is their father’s favorite child, because he’s not his child at all. Jack is merely a company fixer, a man paid to know Franklin’s wants and needs before he has them. His loyalty, it seems, is as strong as ever. He has arrived on the island not to grieve or support, but to see to Franklin’s final, cutting request: that Elisabeth and the children compete for their inheritance. Each of them is assigned a seemingly inane task that, upon completion, will unlock a massive trust to be divided among them. The catch is that they all must complete their assignments, or none of them stand to inherit. And, true to form, Alice is already plotting her way out and away from her toxic, entitled family and back into her life of teaching, a one-bedroom apartment and, to her mother’s horror, IKEA furniture.

Elisabeth, who has long since fallen out of love with Franklin, is forced to “tell the truth” and say one nice thing about him every day for a week. Sam, who has never really worked a day in his life, must do manual labor and --- much to the amusement of his sisters --- be silent for every odd hour of the day. Greta, who has never stepped a toe out of line (at least not in public), must end her not-so-secret romance with her father’s chauffeur. Emily has no direct task but feels responsible for maintaining her family’s peace and keeping them together without the glue that has bonded them for so long.

Alice must stay…on the island that banished her, with the family who neglected her, and with her own feelings of guilt and disappointment. Knowing that she’s the only one who doesn’t want, need or care for their father’s wealth, the rest of the Storms immediately realize that this will be their biggest hurdle. The black sheep becomes the golden goose, whether she likes it or not. And watching it all is Jack, the man with whom she anonymously spent a passionate night. For reasons unknown to the Storms, Jack feels beholden to granting Franklin this last wish.

For Alice, who has long eschewed her family name and connections, it is easy to say that “it’s not about the money,” that they should all walk away and stop capitulating to their father’s demands. But that’s not exactly true, and even she knows it. After all, it’s not the children of carpenters or schoolteachers who are poised to inherit billions at the hands of a megalomaniac. While Alice knows that she can make it without the money, without her family and their strings, she is not so sure about her siblings. And she’s a little ashamed to admit that she’s dying to find out what they’re made of --- but also why they were so quick to cast her off, adhere to their father’s whims, and leave her out in the cold.

THESE SUMMER STORMS boasts a truly complex family dynamic at its core, the kind that would intimidate or totally deter a lesser author, but there’s nothing less about Sarah MacLean. Generous in her prose, incisive in her analyses, and gorgeously, vividly present in her characterizations, MacLean takes to this new genre as if she invented it. She presents both fans and newcomers with something to appreciate, right down to the forbidden love blooming between Alice and Jack.

Unputdownable and as torrential as the Storms it depicts, THESE SUMMER STORMS is a gift, as touching in its explorations of grief as it is steamy in its romance. Above all, it’s a testament to what good fiction does: it makes you feel every snipe, betrayal, alliance and affection as if you were right there with the characters, breathing in the sumptuous coastal air.